


'Til My Head Starts Spinning

by missred



Category: All Time Low, Bandom
Genre: Dehydration, Gen, Overprotectiveness, Sick Fic, Sickfic, Vomiting, as always, sick!Rian, sick!fic, teen for language only guys, this is pretty much shameless fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-01
Updated: 2014-11-01
Packaged: 2018-02-23 11:25:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,604
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2545829
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/missred/pseuds/missred
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Rian is totally fine, until he's not. The guys get a little overprotective of their favorite drummer, and Flyzik is still totally their manager.</p>
            </blockquote>





	'Til My Head Starts Spinning

Rian tried to keep his pace steady as he walked to the bathroom. If he just made it look like he had to piss...

"Ri--are you gonna puke again?" Alex intercepted him.

Rian shook his head mutely. He was a little afraid to open his mouth. he could taste bile rising in the back of his throat and oh my _god_ there was nothing worse than getting sick on tour.

"Are you lying to me?" Alex continued, still blocking him.

Rian shoved past him and bolted into the bathroom, retching.

"Is Rian puking again?" Jack shouted from the other room.

"Fuck all of you." Rian croaked from where he was hunched over the toilet.

"We're worried." Zack said, sticking his head into the tiny bus bathroom.

"Well don't."

"There are orange chunks in our toilet." Zack reminded him.

"Ugh--why--" Rian turned his head back and was sick all over again.

Zack stepped in and halted, caught between wanting to help and not knowing what to do. He settled for rubbing Rian's back until he was done.

"Why would you say that?" Rian asked, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand and grabbing his toothbrush from the sink.

"It's true." Zack said, flushing the toilet.

Rian rinsed the bitter taste from his mouth and wove his way back to the couch. He knew he needed to be getting ready, they had a show in less than two hours. Normally they would have all been in the venue by now, but when Rian had started puking his guts out, everyone had kind of gone into limbo, waiting to see if he was going to be able to play tonight. Which he was. Totally. Because it was too late to try and find someone to cover, and Rian knew they needed him to be okay enough to play this show.

"Let's just go get set up." Rian answered. He tossed shoes at Alex and Jack on the couch.

"Are you sure...? You did just.." Alex started.

"I'm sure." Rian told him brusquely.

Alex shrugged and began gathering his stuff. Jack was less easily swayed.

"Ri, you upchucked more shit in the past hour than I've seen you eat all day." Jack reasoned.

"So there's nothing left to come up." Rian retorted.

"I'm _fine_. We need to go, or Flyzik's gonna kill us."

That effectively ended the conversation, though all of the guys seemed uneasy.

* * *

 

Matt was seething, but not because of the tardiness.

"You look like shit, Rian." Matt told him bluntly. "I'm not good with this. You shouldn't be playing."

"Yeah, well, you don't have a whole lot of options." Rian answered tiredly. It was bad enough he felt awful, without having to argue with anyone about it. Matt knew perfectly well that either Rian played or they'd have to cancel the show. And Rian would drop dead before he'd let that happen.

Matt stared him down grimly for another minute before he sighed and nodded.

"Tell me what you need, Dawson."

"Just--" Rian hated asking it, but he knew Matt would get it done, "Keep a trashcan sidestage for me."

Matt nodded again and walked off, but when time came to play, Rian saw a huge trashcan, bag included, had been dragged just out of sight of the audience. He hadn't vomited since they'd made it to the venue, but he wasn't sure how long he could keep that up. Rian mentally calculated how many steps it would take him to run sidestage if he had to.

Three songs in, Rian found out the answer was exactly five. He dashed off stage during the final chords to Vegas, knowing Alex usually talked for a minute or two after, and puked violently into the trashcan. Matt was there when he lifted his head, looking worried beneath his professional face.

"Check in with me, man. How are you?"

"Fine." Rian choked out. The taste in his mouth was nauseating him.

'You have any gum?" Matt tossed him an unopened pack of Stride.

"You're a lifesaver. " Rian told him gratefully. He jogged back behind his kit just as Alex was getting ready to start Weightless.

Rian repeated this sequence four more times before the set was through. The last time, he started seeing black as he ran offstage. He gripped the edge off the trashcan before giving up and and sinking to the floor, breathing hard.

Matt was there in half a second.

"Rian?! What's going on dude? I need a medic here!" He shouted to a tech.

Rian shook his head.

"Okay--just--" his mouth was dry, and he couldn't speak. He dragged himself up to heave into the trashcan, but nothing came up. Rian couldn't hold the groan back as his body convulsed, trying to get rid of something when there was nothing left. He shook a few more times before dropping back to the floor.

Flyzik's hand was on his forehead, trying to tilt his head up, but Rian was losing conciousness and he was too tired to help.

"shit, _fuck_ , I'm not a doctor, I don't know-Rian! Stay with me, Dawson."

Finally, a EMT rushed over.

Matt was saying..something..but Rian's ears were ringing, and he couldn't focus. Someone else jerked his head up and shined a light in his eyes. Rian blinked. That wasn't nice. He groaned again. If they would just let him go to sleep...something cold was being pressed his lips, and Rian jerked away, not wanting to put swallow anything if he was just going to have to puke it back up, but a hand on the back of his neck held him steady and forced the water passed his lips. After that, it was pure instinct that left Rian gulping at the water bottle, which soothed his dry throat. After a few more minutes of drinking, taking a few gasping breaths, and drinking some more, Rian opened his eyes. He face to face with an EMT, and Matt was crouched right beside him.

"Fuck, how long--" Rian pushed himself off the ground

"Mr. Dawson, you're dehydrated, I need you to stay seated please." EMT guy tried to force Rian down, but even though he wasn't weak, he had nothing on Rian. Rian shook himself out of the man's grip and ran on stage before anyone could stop him. Alex was babbling to Jack, clearly stalling, though Rian hoped the fans wouldn't know that. Alex shot him a concerned glance before he announced,

"Alright well I'm going to shut up, cause we've got a couple more songs to play for you...If you know the words to this one, sing along." And launched into Dear Maria, Count Me In. Rian played the song. He stayed on time and kept his breathing steady.  Well the lights dimmed, Flyzik rushed onstage and practically dragged Rian off, with Alex, Jack, and Zack right on his heels.

"What happened?" Jack questioned frantically.

"He just disappeared for like ten minutes. Is he okay?"

"I'm right here." Rian tried to interject, but Matt spoke over him, hand clutched firmly around Rian's wrist.

"Mr. Self-sacrificing here was dehydrated _on top_ of the puking thing. He passed out." Matt was turning Rian back over the EMT.

"I did _not_!" Rian protested. Because he had been awake, really, he just couldn't lift his head up.

"You were unresponsive." The EMT added mildly.

"I wasn't--"

"Oh shit, are you okay?" Zack interrupted.

"I'm fine, seriously--"

Zack stared at Rian for a second, ignoring his words.

"Is he okay?" He demanded of the EMT.

"Well, he definitely shouldn't have performed tonight, but he should be fine as long as he stays hydrated."

"You are doing nothing but drinking water for the rest of forever." Jack told him sternly.

"Gatorade would actually be better, at least for a few hours, to get his electrolytes back in balance." The EMT said, turning to Jack.

"Gatorade, then." Jack amended.

"You guys are blowing this way out of proportion." Rian muttered. "I don't even feel like puking anymore."

"The fact that you stopped hurling every five minutes doesn't change how you _almost died_ and no one is going to leave you alone until we know for sure you're not checking out on us." Jack proclaimed.

"You're crazy. Alex, tell your friend he's crazy."

"Sorry, he's right. I was thinking we could get one of those kid leashes for you, just to make sure you stay close until you're better." Alex grinned.

"Ugh. Zack, make them stop."

Zack shrugged.

"I don't have an issue with keeping an eye on you for a while. I mean, we've seen what happens if we don't."

"You're traitors! All of you." Rian began walking back towards the bus, disbelieving that everyone was treating him like a kid.

"Matt, be the voice of reason." He implored.

"I am." Matt responded.

"Voice of reasons says I should let these guys smother you for a couple days. It'll teach you to be honest with me about your limits."

"Every single one of you are completely unreasonable." Rian responded, but it sounded like surrender.

"Yeah, yeah, save the sweet talk for the bus, Ri." Alex laughed.

Rian sighed and let his bandmates lead him to the bus.

"Do I at least get to pick the movie tonight?" He asked once they were all showered and assembled in the lounge.

"Only if your pick is Avengers, cause that's what's in and I'm not moving." Zack responded.

Rian settled into the couch, his head pillowing on Zack's stomach, his legs sprawled over Jack and Alex.

"I can live with that."

 

**Author's Note:**

> For an anon prompt fill: "So I saw somewhere that there was a show last year where Rian was really sick, like running off stage every few minutes and once he was gone for like 10 and I was wondering if you could do one about that and the before/after?"


End file.
